


Sweet Dreams

by EssayOfThoughts



Series: MCU Maximoff Oneshots [140]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Codependency, Found Family, Gen, Issues Sleeping, Literal Sleeping Together, Sleeping Together, Trouble Sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:51:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: The next day, though, when it comes to sleep, they have no excuse of not knowing where the rooms are, no excuse of being so glad to have each other back, no easy excuse that will make the others unquestioning when it comes to the simple fact that sleeping near to each other staves off nightmares.They part ways at their doors, hands slowly parting and leave their doors open in preparation.They are both quite certain of nightmares.





	Sweet Dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [MaximoffFicExchange2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MaximoffFicExchange2017) collection. 



> > **Prompt:** The Maximoffs always slept next to each other after the deaths of their parents and have to learn how to deal with being apart at night when they move in with the Avengers (can be twincest or not, it doesn't matter).
> 
> I wrote this while listening to [_Thank God That I'm Not You_ by Himalayas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_TL02vGQaM) and [_Street Fight_ by Adam Jensen.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBZIDOnIdd0)

Wanda misses him. This is unsurprising. In all their years the most time they’ve spent apart and out of contact has been minutes and moments, occasional hours and those few tortured days as the energy of the sceptre wracked their bodies, making them into- into something new.

In all their years to spend whole days apart - out of sight, out of reach of mind - is unheard of and excruciating all at once.

Every evening Wanda has to keep herself from pacing downstairs, chartering a Quinjet, and flying to where Pietro is recuperating in a cradle.

“Best he is not agitated,” they tell her, not knowing that distance and the lack of her mind’s presence is a surer bane to her brother than any excitement.

“Best he heal in peace,” they say, not knowing the only reason her brother has ever endured peace without shaking into anxiety has been for her sake.

And then: what they do not say.  _ Too close. Unnatural.  _

_ Creepy. _

_ Wrong. _

Wanda doesn’t care. One night a week she flies back to the tower of hated Stark and falls asleep with one hand tapping scarlet over the lid of her brother’s Cradle.

 

* * *

 

Pietro wakes slowly. It’s easier when Wanda is nearby - with Wanda nearby he knows he needs to be alert, must be alert. That if he were out of the Cradle he’d be at her side watching out for her, watching over her as he has been since they were ten, watching over the top of her head, staring at the shell that orphaned them.

But she is not there, always. He feels her mind, feels the sad regret each time she leaves and knows that this is not only her choice; that there are others who would have her do this, and who would keep him from her, and her from him.

So, in the between times, as he waits, he pushes himself to heal. Moves his arms, clenches and relaxes his muscles, pulls himself back from the edge of atrophy as much as he can so the day they open the Cradle, the day they let him see daylight for the first time in a month (“It should not have taken so long,” says the Doctor, a small woman with dark hair and a concerned face. “But we had to make sure that-” She trails off, but he knows: make sure he wasn’t wrong or broken), the day he is finally set free of the Cradle he can stand tall and on his own.

He stands and tries not to stumble, waits with patience usually reserved for Wanda as the Doctor runs scans and checks, takes his temperature, and compares it all to the data retrieved from the files from the castle.

“All clear,” she says and nods to the doorway. “Go on. She’s waiting for you.”

Wanda rushes to him as soon as he steps outside - as though she’d be as fast as he if she could. He wraps her in his arms as she wraps him in hers and there is something calm and soothing about the nearness, about the presence, about being able to bury his nose in her hair and forget the world around them for a single moment.

“Wanda,” he whispers. “You’re all right?”

Wanda looks up at him eyes wet, face smiling, and looks as joyful as… as….

The last time she’d looked this joyful they’d been children.

“I’m  _ amazing,” _ she says, her hand tight and warm around his. “Are you?”

He matches her smile, lets his shoulders relax. “I’m  _ alive, _ ” he says. “Didn’t see that coming.”

And Wanda laughs like some kind of angel.

 

* * *

 

They fall asleep half-tangled around each other on a sofa back at the Facility. No one comments because they’re all fallen asleep in similar confused states. It’s a welcoming back, except Pietro has never been to the Facility before, only knows it through his sister’s mind and memories, so when Wanda starts to doze he tucks himself into the corner of the sofa, lets Wanda sprawl across him and lays her shawl out over her back to keep her warm, lets his thumb rub gentle circles on her back and presses a soft kiss to her brow. 

On another sofa Natasha is asleep with her legs on Clint’s and her head on Sam’s stomach, the Captain’s head is resting on Sam’s legs (apparently, it seems like Falcon makes for a good pillow), while Sam uses Colonel Rhodes for a pillow and Rhodes in turn uses Stark. Vision, unsleeping creature that he is, hovers in the corner in some kind of mild hibernation, his subconscious filtering through data feeds to try to locate Banner and keeping a waiting ear out to hear from Thor.

Wanda’s mind is soft and darting in sleep, the cloud of scarlet hovering over the congregation of her mind, passing ever so slightly through the stone facade of the cathedral, hinting at the truth beneath.

Her mind is peaceful, calm and happy and Pietro falls asleep happily.

 

* * *

 

“And here’s your room,” says Clint, showing him to one the opposite side of the corridor to Wanda’s. Wanda’s room is light and airy, already decorated with various knickknacks, her shawl slung over a chair back, a red towel hanging from the bathroom door, a guitar on a low ottoman beside a music stand. When he peeks around the corner at Wanda’s desk he sees exactly what he expects: a laptop, a phone, and jewellery, pens and make-up strewn all over.

His room, in contrast, is bare. There’s a plastic cover on the mattress, and the bed linens - picked out by Wanda, he can tell, only she would pick something black with bright blue lightning patterns all over it for him - are sat by a folded duvet and two stacked pillows. The shelves are empty, the bathroom bare and it feels very….

“Unhomely,” says Clint as though reading his mind. “Lets sort the bed linens out and go to IKEA.”

 

* * *

 

IKEA, Pietro learns, is something like a large warehouse, except it is filled with furniture and furnishings and… “Flatpacks?” Pietro asks. “What-?”

“So you can build them!” Clint says. “Come on, let’s find some things for you. It’ll irk Tony no end that we’re filling your room as well with stuff from IKEA.”

They are rapidly bogged down with with three different sets of foldable boxes, two lamps, four towels, a large plush blue rug and-

“You really want the cheese grater?” asks Clint, watching Pietro run his nails over the metal indents.

“It’s name,” Pietro says, “Is Chosigt.”

Clint looks at him, eyebrows raised. “I’m gonna have to get you a fidget spinner.”

They also get a wireless phone charging pad because “All Stark Phones are capable of wireless charging because Tony won’t let them be anything less, but he really hates it if you use something ‘downmarket’ to wireless charge them, like IKEA or HammerTech.” and how can the twins accept anything less than irking Stark? They may no longer hate him, but mild bugging is allowed, right?

By the time they head to the checkout they have what Wanda is calling “Far too much,” but Pietro can see in her mind is no more or less than what she left with when Clint took her to IKEA for the first time.

The drive back is…. Different. 

“Wanda,” says Clint. “Do you have the receipt?”

Wanda fishes in a bag at her feet, pulls out a long piece of paper. “The first one is… Nordmärke.”

“River,” says Clint. “The Nordmärke river, in the north. Very cold. Next?”

“Nattjasmin,” says Wanda and Pietro thinks he’s gleaning the idea from Wanda’s mind.

“Hmm. This is either the rogue who goes around seducing people or it’s the name of the town brothel.”

“Brothel,” Pietro says. “Unless it is codename.”

“Brothel it is,” says Clint, clapping a hand on the steering wheel. “Next?”

“Trattiva,” says Wanda. “I know this. She works at Nattjasmin.”

Pietro reaches forwards, takes the receipt from his sister. “Well,” he says, dodging out of the way of her grabbing hands. “In that case  _ Indira  _ is her girlfriend.”

Clint laughs. “Okay,” he says. “Lesbian sex workers who run a brothel. What’s next?”

“Skorren,” Pietro reads out. 

“Villain,” says Wanda. “He lives in the mountains above the Nordmärke.”

“Flöng?”

“Half-elf hero,” says Clint. “He’s an idiot.”

“Like you,” Wanda says and Clint laughs.

They spend the entire journey like this, reading things off the list and deciding what roles they fill in a made up world.

When they get back, Wanda has perfect memory of what everything was. When he asks her to throw him the new bed linens to put in the cupboard she looks mock-offended at him. “Throw Flöng? How could you. We all know he lost his sense of balance after the battle with Maskros!”

They end up on the floor laughing and Wanda uses her scarlet to pull Vårkrage the actually-a-blanket, not-a-Berserker over them as they decide to have a nap.

 

* * *

 

The next day, though, when it comes to sleep, they have no excuse of not knowing where the rooms are, no excuse of being so glad to have each other back, no easy excuse that will make the others unquestioning when it comes to the simple fact that sleeping near to each other staves off nightmares.

They part ways at their doors, hands slowly parting and leave their doors open in preparation.

They are both quite certain of nightmares.

 

* * *

 

When they wake it is choking, new clean blankets as oppressive as stone and dust and Pietro stumbles in silver and blue through two open doorways to his sister. Her eyes are already wide open, glowing scarlet-red, and her hands already reach for him, pull him close. They curl together as they did all those years ago, Pietro’s head tucked atop hers, watching over her head at a dim corner of the room, Wanda curled into a tight ball against him staring at the very same spot.

“It’s all right,” he whispers.

“It’s okay,” she whispers.

“I’m here,” they breathe together.

 

* * *

 

The others don’t understand. They see the two of them leaving from the same door for breakfast, fingers still tightly interlinked and Wanda sees the fears flashing over the surfaces of their minds. Fears… or are they concerns? Over the nature of their closeness. She passes the sense of it to Pietro who only holds her hand tighter.

“They should just ask,” he whispers in Sokovian, filling the kettle for her tea. At his side she’s pouring orange juice into a glass for him.

“They won’t,” she replies. “They think it is… wrong to suggest, just as they think it is wrong for it to happen.”

Pietro leans to one side, presses a kiss to his sister’s hair. “It is  _ wrong _ ,” he says, “to keep secrets from teammates, no?”

And Wanda leans against him, and laughs.

 

* * *

 

Some scattered evenings they can spend apart, but after long days training they prefer to curl together, after days that remind them of all they’ve lost their nightmares drive them closer and it is not long before Steve sits with them one early morning, a mug of steaming coffee between his palms.

“Are you-” he starts. His mind is quiet - no suspicions or fears are driving this querying, just a simple concern. “You have trouble sleeping,” he says. “Both of you. I hear you sometimes, moving to one another’s rooms.”

Wanda’s lips twist slightly. “I’m sorry,” she says. “We do not mean to-”

“It’s nightmares,” he says. “Right?”

The question is in part a loaded one. Steve asks it because he does believe it to be so - his ears are sensitive enough to hear when one wakes yelling and he is more than smart enough to glean the reason - but he also asks it to assuage his concerns, to ease the worries of the team. 

“Mostly,” says Wanda, and grips Pietro’s free hand tight. “But it is…. Since we were ten, to sleep apart has only happened when something is wrong. We always slept within reach of each other unless we had no other choice.”

Steve nods slowly, understandingly. Wanda can see the pieces slotting together in his mind. “Alright,” he says, and sips his coffee, smiles, wide and warm. “Good thing we put your rooms so close then.”

 

* * *

 

It is…

It grows easier to sleep apart. Wanda weaves their minds closer so that even sleeping they feel one another’s presence as close as anything and cannot dream each other dead as their recurring nightmare always makes them. Instead they appear in each other’s dreams, spilling from one mind to the other until they find themselves half lost, half in one and half in the other.

Each morning they disentangle themselves and think,  _ There must be an easier way than this. _

 

* * *

 

“Barbecue!” Clint says, strolling into the main room of the facility one morning. “Come on, it’s summer, it’s sunny, you’re all bored out of your skulls with nothing to do, we’re all going to the farm and me and Laura are going to make you lamb kebabs and spicy chicken and proper barbecued burgers.”

Given Nat is already out of her seat and Sam and Steve look to be following its without a discussion that they all troupe downstairs and onto the Quinjet.

 

* * *

 

The farm is…

Pietro has only seen it’s like in Wanda’s memories, a few days of visits while he was still in shattered unstable recovery, before they’d felt able to tell her that there was a hope yet that he might live. The farm is…. Grief yes, but softened, and warmth and friendliness, love and recovery, a child who carries his name for a middle name, a gift granted by Wanda for the respect offered by Clint in asking.

When he steps out of the Quinjet, breathes in warm air scented by cooking lamb, he thinks he understands why Wanda feels so comfortable here.

 

* * *

 

It is…. It is  _ dark _ by the time Steve and Sam, Tony and Vision and Rhodey all start piling back into the Quinjet. Wanda is talking and playing with a still-lively Lila, making her scarlet dance out to cries of “cheat!”, though no one much seems to mind. Pietro is half in a corner, retreated there to watch once the cheerful chat eased off into more complex conversation.

He has not been in battle alongside the others much, besides when he died, and he does not have many stories to tell. Or at least… not stories he might tell them.

He does not expect Clint to sidle up to him - he half drops his can of cola - and go, “I don’t think Wanda’s gonna want to move, do you two wanna stay the night? We still have her guest room set up next to Nat’s, and there’s two beds.”

Pietro blinks, long, slow and startled, before nodding.

 

* * *

 

Wanda’s room at the Bartons is…

It is amazingly  _ hers _ for a room she spent so brief a time in. There is still a shawl there - neatly folded at the foot of one bed - and two sets of earrings set precisely on the bedside table. The bed with the shawl is made up with red blankets, a burgundy duvet and Pietro thinks  _ this is more Wanda’s home than the base. _

When they fall asleep that night, their hands are interlinked in the small gap between their beds, and they sleep the whole night through, untroubled.

 

* * *

 

“Sleep well?” Laura asks when they come down for breakfast the next day. Nathaniel Pietro Barton - Nate to everyone except Pietro who is still half in awe and half giddy with glee to see someone named for him - is balanced on her hip as she fishes toast out of the toaster to set on a plate.

The twins fingers are still interlinked, but loosely. Sleeping well has helped them, and Wanda’s sense of safety in this place means they sit down and part hands barely thinking about it.

“We did,” Wanda says, and offers out her hands. “Do you want me to hold him while you have breakfast?”

 

* * *

 

Later, when Nat is playing with Lila and Cooper and Nate is settled in for a nap upstairs, Clint sits quietly between them on the bench.

“You know,” he says, watching Nat playing tag with his kids, “If all you two needed was a set of twin beds we can sort that out.” The twins are half stiff with shock before he gently elbows Wanda. “Besides,” he says with a wide grin. “Think of how much it’ll bug Stark that he made a mistake sorting your rooms.”

  
  


* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> The game Fantasy IKEA is something my mum and sibs invented after going to IKEA to get stuff for my brother's flat. All of those listed IKEA things are real IKEA objects. [Chosigt](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/cookware/kitchen-utensils/chosigt-grater-with-container-blue-art-50153180/) is a blue cheese grater, [Nordmärke](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/wireless-charging/wireless-charging-pads/nordm%C3%A4rke-single-pad-for-wireless-charging-white-art-60308308/) is a wireless charging point, [Nattjasmin](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/bedlinen/nattjasmin-quilt-cover-and-2-pillowcases-blue-art-00344272/) is a set of two pillowcases and a duvet cover, [Trattiva](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/bedspread/trattviva-bedspread-light-blue-art-60349337/) is a bredspread-rug-blanket thing and [Indira](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/bedspread/indira-bedspread-dark-blue-art-20191758/) is a proper bedpread. [Skorren](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/shower-curtains/skorren-shower-curtain-white-blue-art-20339180/) is a shower curtain, [Flöng](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/bedlinen/fl%C3%B6ng-quilt-cover-and-4-pillowcases-blue-white-art-50309054/) is another pillowcase-duvet cover set, [Maskros](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/ceiling-lights/maskros-pendant-lamp-art-30190447/) is a lamp, and [Vårkrage](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/textiles-rugs/blankets-throws/v%C3%A5rkrage-throw-blue-art-80352296/) is a blanket.
> 
> Please feel free to play Fantasy IKEA yourselves. Please also feel free to leave comments! I hope you all enjoyed this.


End file.
